So, before I get started with my normal post, for the last couple months of this last year I have been pondering something. I had been thinking what would it be like to do a blog post once a week on a particular ingredient. Sure, thoughts of garlic, butter, chocolate, and more came to mind. I really thought about an ingredient that could be a little more transformational, and for me, this was cream cheese. So welcome to my first post of 52 Weeks of Cream Cheese

Why cream cheese? For me, cream cheese is an ingredient you can pull out of your fridge and it helps to transform a dish. I think of ways I have used cream cheese in the past, it is a dessert with cheesecake, I have used it to thicken sauce with such as Alfredo sauce, and I have used it in one of my favorite dishes – cream cheese chicken. So I thought what if I forced myself to cook with a particular ingredient each week. So come take a journey with me, the journey of cream cheese, one of my favorite ingredients.

Pan Fried Salmon with Cream Cheese Pesto

Yield: 4 servings.
1 pound of salmon cut into 4 pieces
8 ounces of cream cheese
2 tablespoons of half and half
2 tablespoons pesto
2 tablespoon olive oil
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper

Bring salmon to room temperature about 15 minutes before cooking. Heat a large skillet with oil over medium-low heat. Season fish with salt and pepper, and place salmon skin side up in the pan. Cook until golden brown on one side, and flip over on the other side, this should take about 3 to 4 minutes on each side.

In a small pot add half and half, pesto, and cream cheese, stir together well over low heat until the cream cheese sauce is combined well.

Spoon about two tablespoons of the pesto cream cheese sauce over the salmon. You may want to serve with a lemon slice along with the fish.